In the run-up to the election, Buhari promised Nigerians change through many policies, programmes and interventions, as contained in his Covenant with Nigerians document as well as the APC’s election manifesto.

Have these promises been taking shape or have they been relegated to mere electioneering? We appraise 9 promises made about sectors that affect all Nigerians, revisiting some we checked on a year ago.

Social welfare

Promise: “Introduce free daily school meals for all primary school children.”

Feeding 15 million primary school pupils (from classes 1 to 6) daily is expected to boost food production and create jobs. A pilot phase started a few months ago in 7 states: Anambra, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ebonyi, Zamfara, and Enugu.

Currently over a million primary school pupils receive meals daily, an assistant to the acting president, Laolu Akande, announced, but the pilot is yet to become a nationwide programme.

Promise: “Create a phased social insurance scheme to assist certain groups in the population with social welfare payments.”

Verdict: Achieved

The Buhari-led government has kept its word in creating a phased social insurance scheme with cash payouts to the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerians.

As part of a pilot that started in January, people in 9 states who are registered as poor or vulnerable – reportedly based on a World Bank model – receive N5,000 monthly. The 9 states are: Bauchi, Borno, Cross Rivers, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Osun and Oyo, according to Laolu Akande, a special assistant to the acting president.

Information minister Lai Mohammed said on Democracy Day about 26,000 people have benefitted so far from these monthly payouts.

Health

Promise: “Ensure that no Nigerian will have a reason to go outside of the country for medical treatment.”

Verdict: Not achieved

Buhari himself hasn’t even kept the promise. In the past year alone, he went abroad 3 times to seek medical treatment.

In June 2016, Buhari went to London to consult an ear, nose and throat specialist about an ear infection. Earlier this year, he spent 51 days in the British capital on extended medical leave and returned on 7 May on indefinite medical leave. The details of his condition are closely guarded by his confidants.

In May this year, Nigeria’s minister of state for health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, admitted that the country’s health sector is still grappling with many issues and he claimed that Africa’s most populous country loses over US$1 billion every year to medical tourism.

In September 2016, the government abandoned a plan to build 10,000 primary health care centres. Instead, it launched a drive to revamp existing ones, which includes renovation, re-equipping and the signing up of 200,000 voluntary health workers to improve antenatal care, immunisation and other health services.

Though 1,396,836 jobs were created between the 3rd quarter 2015 (the first full quarter Buhari’s government were in power) and the 3rd quarter of 2016 (the last for which data is available), this was not enough to keep up with the increase in the labour force.

Judging whether this promise has been fulfilled depends on how you define “occupy”, Ryan Cummings, director of risk management consultancySignal Risk and founding member of the Nigerian Security Network, told Africa Check.

Senior researcher at SBM Intelligence, Cheta Nwanze, explained that Boko Haram “have been dislodged from most places that they occupied but they still have little outposts here and there especially in the far north of Borno State”.

But the period in which Boko Haram “exerted control over population centres, displaced federal governance structures and effectively administered communities under Sharia law” has seemingly ended, Cummings added.

“It is a programme designed to encourage anyone with information about a violation, misconduct or improper activity that impacts negatively on the Nigerian people and government to report it,” Kemi Adeosun told journalists.

For corruption-related information, the whistleblower gets between 2.5% and 5.0% of the total amount recovered. By April 2017, the policy has reportedly led to the recovery of N73 billion from various people.

Housing

Promise: “Create a mortgage market by reforming land ownership to give ordinary Nigerians easy access to title deeds.”

Verdict: No progress

The Land Use Act of 1978 makes the Nigerian government (whether federal, state or local) the primary owners of all land. People buying land receive a certificate of occupancy which expires after 99 years. The certificate can be revoked at any time, but only under certain conditions.

Entries on the website, which only date back to November 2015, show the highest electricity generation took place on 7 February 2016, with 4,741 MW recorded. The latest entry shows the country had a total daily generated power of 4,433 MW on 29 May 2017.

In March, theexecutive council approved N701 billion as a power assurance guarantee. The sum is expected to help pay for the transmission and distribution of electricity produced by generation companies so they can, in turn, pay off debts owed to gas suppliers.

The government is also looking to complete transmission projects that stalled under the Jonathan administration. The completion of the Zungeru power plantis expected to add 700 MW to the grid.

There is also traction in the government’s bid to increase electricity generation from other energy sources than hydroelectricity and gas turbines. A 10 MW wind power projecthas been revived in Katsina state while the government has signed agreements for 1,200 MW of solar power. Electricity from nuclear energy isalso reportedly being considered.

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For democracy to function, public figures need to be held to account for what they say. The claims they make need to be checked, openly and impartially. Africa Check is an independent, non-partisan organisation which assesses claims made in the public arena using journalistic skills and evidence drawn from the latest online tools, readers, public sources and experts, sorting fact from fiction and publishing the results.